Method of and apparatus for automatic production of armatures

ABSTRACT

An automatic armature production line comprising an assembling machine by which the component parts of an armature core assembly are assembled, a bank of armature winding machines by which the armatures are wound, a welding machine by which the wire leads connecting successively wound coils are physically and electrically connected to the terminals of the commutator, a testing station at which the completed armatures are tested for electrical continuity, and a transfer system by which the armature core assemblies and then the wound armatures are quickly moved from one work station to another, the transfer system comprising a plurality of identical cylindrical carriers that have axial cavities into which the armature core assemblies and the wound armatures are inserted and which roll along downwardly inclined tracks that lead from station to station, and which carriers have a flat surface spaced from their axes of rotation to coact with flat surfaced guides at the different work stations to hold the carriers in positions of rotation at which the armature core assemblies and wound armatures have a predetermined rotary orientation with respect to the work performing mechanism at the work stations.

This invention like that of the copending application Ser. No. 607,048filed Aug. 22, 1975, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,184, of which this is adivision, and which in turn was a division of Ser. No. 477,549, filedJune 7, 1974, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,129, relates to a method of andapparatus for automatically assembling the components of multi-partarticles and conveying the assembled articles successively to a numberof work stations at each of which power actuated mechanism performs anoperation upon the articles, which operations cumulatively result in theproduction of a finished product.

Broadly speaking, the objectives of this invention are the same as thoseof the Zepp, U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,314 issued May 22, 1973 to The HooverCompany of North Canton, Ohio. This patent is unquestionably the closestprior art requiring consideration in evaluating the patentability of theinvention disclosed and claimed herein.

As will become apparent from the following disclosure and the appendedclaims, this invention constitutes a significant improvement upon thatof the aforesaid Zepp patent and, by that improvement, overcomes seriousdeficiencies in the method and apparatus disclosed in the Zepp patent.

Although the present invention as a whole and certain constituentaspects of it, are no doubt useful in a number of different arts and forother purposes, the invention -- like that of the Zepp patent -- isprimarily concerned with the automatic production of armatures forelectric motors and will therefore be described in that context.

Those skilled in the art are well aware of the problems that haveheretofore confronted manufacturers of electric motors in their effortsto lower the production cost of their product, and especially thatfraction thereof represented by the production of the armatures.

An armature comprises a core assembly consisting of a stack of ironlaminations, with coil receiving slots opening to its periphery andusually provided with shields of insulating material covering itsopposite ends, and a commutator having a circle of terminals mounted ona common shaft. Coils of wire are wound into the slots of the laminatedcore and the leads that connect the coils are fused, or otherwisephysically and electrically connected to the commutator terminals.Obviously, before the coils can be wound onto the core, the laminationscomprising it must be assembled into a stack of the required height andthen pressed onto the shaft along with the commutator. This is doneautomatically by an assembling machine designed for the purpose, andresults in armature core assemblies ready to have coils wound thereon.

The winding of the coils is, of course, done on a well known windingmachine, and the fusing of the coil leads to their respective commutatorterminals is accomplished by a machine especially designed for thepurpose, but which forms no part of this invention. When theseoperations are completed, the finished product, i.e. the armature, mustbe electrically tested and checked before it is passed on forincorporation in a motor. The machines or locations at which thesedifferent operations are performed can be regarded or identified as workstations, each of which performs its function most expeditiously andreliably. But no matter how efficiently and quickly the respectiveoperations are performed at these work stations, the desired lowproduction cost will not be achieved unless the armature core assembliesare automatically and quickly conveyed from the assembling machine tothe winding machine, and unless the wound armatures are similarlycarried from the winder to testing and checking stations in a way whichassures proper presentation thereof to the successive work stations.

As taught by the aforesaid Zepp patent, the transfer of the articles --armature core assemblies and wound armatures -- from station to stationcan be efficiently accomplished by inserting the articles into carriersthat roll by gravity along downwardly inclined tracks. But this is notenough. The armature core assemblies and wound armatures must be inpredetermined rotary orientation with respect to the work performingmechanism at the work stations as they are presented thereto, and thatpredetermined orientation requires that the armature core assembliesand/or wound armatures be in a certain position of rotation when theyenter the work station.

For that requirement to be met, the carrier into which the armature coreassemblies and the wound armatures are inserted for transport from workstation to work station, must arrive at the work stations in a known oridentifiable position of rotation which entails the provision ofintelligence on the carriers by which rotation thereof can beinterrupted in a defined position, and also locating means on thecarriers by which the articles therein are held in a predeterminedposition of rotation with respect to the intelligence on the carriers.

The Zepp patent discloses neither intelligence on the carrier by whichrotation thereof can be interrupted nor locating means to hold thearticles in a predetermined position of rotation with respect to suchintelligence on the carriers. In fact it does not even suggest arecognition of the need for these attributes.

It is therefore an important object of this invention to provide aconveyor system for presenting articles successively to a work stationwhich system not only quickly brings the articles to the work station,but also assures that when presented thereto, the articles will be in apredetermined orientation with respect to the mechanism at the workstation by which the work to be done at that station is performed.

More specifically, it is the purpose of this invention not only toprovide a conveyor system in which the articles to be conveyed areinserted into axial cavities in identical cylindrical carriers withtheir center of gravity on the axis of the carriers so that the carrierswith the articles therein can roll freely along downwardly inclinedtracks, as in the aforesaid Zepp patent, but which in addition has eachof the carriers equipped with rotation interrupting means by which thecarriers can be held against rotation, and locating means by which thearticles therein are held in a predetermined position of rotation withrespect to the rotation interrupting means on the carriers.

Another object of the invention is to provide a conveyor systemespecially adapted for use in the automatic production of armatures forelectric motors which employs carriers for the unwound and woundarmatures that roll along downwardly inclined tracks from work stationto work station, and which conveyor system is characterized by holdingmeans at each work station that coacts with rotation interrupting meanson the carriers and by such coaction assures a required orientation ofthe unwound and wound armatures with the mechanism at the work stations.

Still another object of the invention resides in the provision ofimproved transfer instrumentalities for a conveyor system of thecharacter by which the articles being handled are transferred to andfrom the mechanism at the work stations by which different operationsare performed, as for instance in the case of armatures for electricmotors, the winding of the coils onto the armature core and the fusingof the coil leads to the commutator terminals, which transferinstrumentalities are characterized by the fact that they bodily movethe carriers with the articles therein towards and from the mechanism atthe work stations along defined rectilinear paths that are parallel tothe axis of rotation of the carriers, and in the case of armatures,parallel to the axis of the armatures.

A further object of the invention is to provide certain of the aforesaidtransfer instrumentalities with means to swing the carriers back andforth between positions in which their axes are horizontal as they mustbe to roll along the track, and positions in which their axes arevertical as required at some of the work stations, and to effect thatchange without losing the predetermined orientation of the carriers andthe articles therein with respect to the mechanism at the work stations.

Since the invention is primarily concerned with the production ofarmatures, the manner in which the core laminations are formed intostacks of predetermined height for identical armature cores, constitutesa significant part of the invention, and in this connection theinvention has as another of its objects to provide an improvedlamination separator which completely eliminates any possibility offailure or malfunctioning of that mechanism as a result of thedimensional variations normally encountered in the laminations.

With these observations and objectives in mind, the manner in which theinvention achieves its purpose will be appreciated from the followingdescription and the accompanying drawings, which exemplify theinvention, it being understood that changes may be made in the precisemethod of practicing the invention and in the specific apparatusdisclosed herein without departing from the essentials of the inventionset forth in the appended claims.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one complete example of theembodiment of the invention constructed according to the best mode sofar devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, andin which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an armature of the type made on theproduction line of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view at a very small scale and rather diagrammatic, ofthe entire production line;

FIG. 3 is a side view of one of the carriers in which the armature coreassemblies and the finished armatures are received, on one of the tracksalong which the carriers roll to move their contents from station tostation, the track being shown in cross section;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one of the carriers showing the samewith an armature therein;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view through one of the carriers;

FIG. 6 is an end view of the carrier;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the component parts of thecarrier;

FIG. 8 is a cross sectional view through a portion of the carrier toillustrate a detail thereof;

FIG. 9 is a side view of the assembling machine that is located at thestart of the production line;

FIG. 10 is an end view of the assembling machine;

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic top view of the assembling machine;

FIG. 12 is a view partially in section and partially in elevation ofthat part of the assembling machine at which the required number ofcore-forming laminations arranged in a stack are separated from a supplythereof and deposited in pockets in the first of two turntables;

FIG. 13 is a longitudinal sectional view through part of the structureshown in FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a cross sectional view through FIG. 13 on the plane of theline 14--14;

FIG. 15 is a top view looking down on part of the structure shown inFIG. 13 and taken on the plane of the line 15--15;

FIG. 16 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a detail of thestructure shown in FIG. 13;

FIG. 17 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale, partially in sectionand partially in elevation, to better illustrate the manner in which thestacked laminations are fed from a supply thereof into pockets in thefirst of the two turntables shown in FIG. 12;

FIG. 18 is a fragmentary detail view at still a larger scale toillustrate an aspect of the lamination separating feature of thisinvention;

FIG. 19 is a sectional view through FIG. 18 on the plane of the line19--19;

FIGS. 20 through 24 are perspective views showing the different stagesin the formation of the armature core assemblies;

FIG. 25 illustrates that portion of the assembling machine at which atransfer arm lifts bottom end laminations from a supply thereof andplaces them in the bottom of the pockets in the second of the twoturntables;

FIG. 25a is a cross sectional view through FIG. 25 on the plane of theline 25a--25a;

FIG. 26 is a view through FIG. 25 on the plane of the line 26--26;

FIG. 27 is a view similar to FIG. 25 but showing the structure by whichstack-shaft assemblies are inserted into the pockets of the secondturntable to be added to the bottom end lamination already in thosepockets;

FIG. 28 is a cross sectional view through FIG. 27 on the plane of theline 28--28;

FIG. 28a is a fragmentary sectional view showing a detail of thestructure shown in FIGS. 27 and 28;

FIG. 29 is another view similar to FIG. 25 but showing the manner inwhich the top end laminations are added to the assemblies being built upin the pockets of the second turntable;

FIG. 30 is a cross sectional view through FIG. 29 on the plane of theline 30--30;

FIG. 31 is a view similar to FIGS. 25, 27 and 29 but showing the mannerin which the commutators are added to the assemblies being built up inthe pockets of the receiving turntable;

FIG. 32 is a cross sectional view through FIG. 31 on the plane of theline 32--32;

FIG. 33 on sheet 23 is a top view (on an enlarged scale) of one of thecommutators showing the difference between one of its terminals and therest;

FIG. 34 illustrates the transfer station at which completed armaturecore assemblies are transferred from the receiving turntable to thecarriers by which they are brought to the winding machine of theproduction line;

FIG. 35 illustrates the structure by which empty carriers are presentedto the transfer station shown in FIG. 34 and then, after receiving anarmature core assembly, are elevated to the upper end of a downwardlyinclined track along which they roll to the winding machine;

FIG. 36 is a detail sectional view through FIG. 35 on the plane of theline 36--36;

FIG. 36a is a cross sectional detail view through FIG. 35 on the planeof the line 36a--36a;

FIG. 37 is a side view of the first and second of a bank of four windingmachines indicated in FIG. 1 and illustrating particularly the structureby which carriers with armature core assemblies therein are fed to andremoved from the winding machines;

FIG. 37a on sheet 10 is a detail view illustrating a feature of thestructure shown in FIG. 37;

FIG. 38 is a top view of one of the winding machines;

FIG. 39 is a perspective view of the structure by which the loadedcarriers are handled in being fed to and removed from the windingmachine;

FIG. 40 is a perspective view of the transfer mechanism by whichcarriers with wound armatures in them are taken from the track alongwhich they are rolled from the winding machines, and are presented tothe welding machine at which the leads of the armature coils are fusedto the commutator terminals;

FIG. 41 is an end view of the welding machine with parts thereof brokenaway and in section;

FIG. 42 is a side view of the welding machine;

FIG. 43 is a perspective view of structure by which the loaded carriersare handled at the station where the armatures are tested;

FIG. 44 is a perspective view of the mechanism by which the completedarmatures are removed from the carriers, and the empty carriers elevatedto the track which brings them back to the assembling machines; and

FIGS. 45, 46 and 47 illustrate other ways in which the carriers can beequipped with intelligence that enables their position of rotation to beidentified and the carriers held against rotation.

Referring to the drawings, and bearing in mind that the invention isbeing described as applied to the production of armatures for electricmotors, the numeral 4 (FIG. 1) designates a completed armature,illustrative of the type that can be produced at very high productionrates on the production line of this invention. The armature comprises acore assembly consisting of a stack of identical iron laminations 5 thatcollectively form the core 6 of the armature, mounted on a shaft 7between insulating end shields 8'--8' (hereinafter referred to as topand bottom end laminations) and a commutator 9 also mounted on the shaft7 and having circumferentially spaced terminals 10. Coils of wire 11wound into longitudinally extending slots in the core 6 with the wireleads that connect the successively wound coils, physically andelectrically connected to the commutator terminals complete thearmature.

THE PRODUCTION LINE-GENERALLY

In accordance with this invention the component parts of the armaturecore assembly are automatically assembled on an assembling machine 12schematically depicted in FIG. 2, and as the assemblies are completed,they are inserted into cylindrical carriers 13 (FIGS. 5-8). The loadedcarriers 13, upon leaving the assembling machine, are conveyed by anelevator 14 in a manner to be described, to the top of a downwardlyinclined track 15, along which the carriers roll to a descendingelevator 16 which brings the loaded carriers to a downwardly inclinedtrack 17 that leads to a bank of winding machines 18 a, b, c and d. Anumber of winding machines are employed since the winding of the coilsonto the armature core assemblies requires more time than does theautomatic production of the armature core assemblies on the machine 12.

By means of automatic switching gear, to be later described, a loadedcarrier approaching a "busy" winding machine at which a coil windingoperation is in progress, is caused to bypass that machine and proceedalong a track section 19 or a succession thereof to the next windingmachine that is available to accept an unwound armature core assemblyand wind coils onto it.

Upon arriving at an "available" winding machine, a carrier 13 with anunwound armature cord assembly in it, is moved axially to an unloadingposition at which the assembly therein is transferred from the carrierto the winding machine and an armature that has just been wound by thatmachine is inserted into the carrier.

The carrier with the just-wound armature in it, is now deposited on anadjacent lower track section 20 along which, or along a succession ofwhich, the carrier rolls to an elevator 21. This elevator lifts theloaded carrier to the top of another downwardly inclined track 22, alongwhich it rolls to a welding machine 23. Here the wire leads that connectthe successively wound coils of the armatures, are physically andelectrically connected to the terminals of the commutator. Since thisoperation requires the wound armatures to be removed from the carriers,the welding machine incorporates means for removing the armatures fromthe carriers and reinserting them after the welding operation.

Upon leaving the welding machine the carriers with the now completedarmatures in them, are conveyed by the carriers rolling down a track 24to a testing station TE where they are tested for possible "shorts" and,if found satisfactory, are conveyed by their carriers rolling down atrack section 25 to a discharge station at which the acceptablearmatures are removed from their carriers and deposited on a conveyor 26that carries them to the location at which they are assembled intoelectric motors.

Armatures that do not meet the continuity test are displaced from theircarriers and suitably handled as rejects.

An elevator 27 lifts the empty carriers 13 to the top of an elevateddownwardly inclined track 28 along which they roll back to theassembling machine 12.

THE CARRIERS

The carriers 13 are all alike in size and shape, size being dictated bythat of the articles to be conveyed. Each carrier is a cylindrical body29 with a middle flange 30 flanked by a pair of smaller diameter hubs31. The body has a cavity 32 into which the article to be conveyed -- inthis case an unwound armature core assembly or a wound armature -- isinserted. The carrier rolls on the circular periphery of its middleflange 30, and the tracks along which it rolls are formed by parallelopposing upper and lower channel-shaped rails 33 and 34 (FIG. 3) whichembrace the middle flange 30 and thereby keep the carrier "on thetrack". Obviously, the space between the webs of the track-formingchannels must be somewhat greater than the diameter of the middle flangeof the carrier to permit the carrier to roll freely.

The most significant feature of this invention undoubtedly resides inthe fact that the carriers 13 have "intelligence" on them by which theirposition of rotation can be identified and by which they can be heldagainst rotation. The form in which this intelligence is provided issusceptible to modification, as will be shown, but a very simple andpractical way of supplying that intelligence is by a flat surface 35 inthe circular periphery of at least one of the two hubs 31. Where, as ispreferable, both of the hubs 31 have such flat surfaces 35, they arecoplanar and lie in a plane that forms a chord to the circularperipheries of the hubs 31 and, of course, also the middle flange 30.These flat surfaces result from a stepped formation at the outer ends ofthe hubs, which also forms risers 35' at the junction of the noncircularouter end portions of the hubs with their circular inner portions.

Wherever it is required to have predetermined rotary orientation of theconveyed articles -- as, for instance, when an operation is to beperformed on an armature core assembly or armature -- that orientationis assured by holding the flat surfaces 35 on the carriers in engagementwith flat surfaced stationary guides, to be later described; and byalways inserting the articles into the carriers in the same known rotaryorientation with respect to their flat surfaces 35. In the production ofarmatures, that required placement is accomplished at the assemblingmachine, as will be described, but before reaching that point it wouldbe well to describe, in detail, the construction of the carriers.

By reference to FIGS. 5 through 8 (sheet 2) it will be seen that thebody of the carriers consists of a pair of mating cup-shaped sections 36that are mirror images of each other and are joined on the median planeof the middle flange 30.

Nested within the body formed by the two cup-shaped sections 36 is acylindrical sleeve 38, the bore of which forms the cavity 32 into whichthe articles to be conveyed are inserted. To hold the sections 36 inproper relative relationship with their flat surfaces 35 coplanar, eachhas a key 39 that engages in a keyway 40 in the sleeve as the parts areassembled.

Since the carriers are designed to receive the armature shown in FIG. 1,one end of the cavity-forming bore of the sleeve 38 is counterbored, asat 41. This counterbore is of a diameter and depth to snugly receive andaxially locate the core of the armature in a position in which itscommutator is spaced from the adjacent end 42 of the carrier and withits shaft projecting from the carrier, as seen in FIG. 4.

The axial position of the armature in the carrier is defined during itsinsertion by the engagement of the core with the shoulder 43 formed bythe bottom of the counterbore 41; and a plurality of parallel pins 44that project radially into the counterbore 41 engage the edges of thewinding slots of the armature core to hold the armature against rotationwith respect to the carrier. Since there are five winding slots in thepresent armature, there are five pins 44 spaced apart 72°.

The pins 44 are seated in holes 45 formed in the sleeve and so locatedwith respect to its axis that they communicate with the counterborethrough longitudinally extending openings somewhat narrower than thediameter of the pins and, since the holes are larger in diameter thanthe pins, the pins have a degree of lateral freedom, as shown in FIG. 8.This enables the pins to accommodate themselves to the core of thearmature as it is inserted into the carrier.

An elastic band 46 seated in an annular groove 47 in the sleeve 38yieldingly draws the pins towards the axis of the carrier and thuscauses them to frictionally grip the core of an armature inserted intothe carrier. To enable the elastic band to engage the pins, the annulargroove 47 is deep enough to open into the holes in which the pins areseated.

All component parts of the carrier are formed of insulating material, sothat an armature therein can be electrically tested for continuity ofits coils without removing the same from the carrier. The sleeve 38 andthe cup-shaped sections 36 which form the body of the carrier, arepreferably molded plastic parts and, in practice, the sections 36 arecored out for lightness and economy of material, in accordance withstandard plastic molding techniques.

THE ASSEMBLING MACHINE (FIGS. 9-32)

The assembling machine, designated by the numeral 12 in FIG. 2,comprises two cooperating units identified generally by the numerals 50and 51 in FIG. 9, where both units are shown mounted on a common base52. The unit 50 forms the core laminations 5 into stacks of theprescribed number and inserts the shafts of the armatures into thestacks. To do this, the unit 50 has a turntable 53 mounted to berotatably indexed in 60° increments about a vertical axis. This tablehas a bottom plate 54 that is drivingly connected with a main driveshaft 55 in the bottom of the base 52 through conventional powertransmission and indexing means (not shown), and a top plate 56 that hassix cylindrical pockets 57 arranged in a circle near its periphery.Since the diameter of these pockets is determined by that of thelaminations that form the armature core, the top plate 56 is removablyfixed to the bottom plate to allow for its replacement when a differentdiameter armature is to be made.

With each index of the turntable 53, one of its pockets 57 is alignedwith a lamination magazine 58 thereabove. The magazine is essentially avertical tube of a length sufficient to hold a large number oflaminations, and to assure an adequate supply of laminations at alltimes, there are several such magazines mounted in a turret 59positioned alongside the turntable. Hence, by properly indexed rotationof the turret, one of the magazines is always positioned to have thepockets 57 aligned therewith as indexed rotation of the turntable bringsthe pockets into lamination receiving position. The manner in which themagazine turret is indexed is of no consequence to this invention andhence has not been shown.

However, it is significant that the turret have a bottom plate 60 (FIG.12) in which the magazine tubes 58 are set and which slides across thetop of a stationary plate 61 that has at its underside a laminationfeeder, designated generally by the numeral 62. The laminations dropthrough the lamination feeder into each pocket 57 as indexed rotation ofthe turntable brings it into alignment with the lamination feeder, itbeing understood that the stationary plate 61 has a hole through whichthe laminations pass from the magazine into the lamination feeder.

In each of the cylindrical pockets 57 is a plunger 63 which isreciprocable between a raised position in which its top is flush withthe top surface of the turntable and a lowered position which determinesthe height of the stack of laminations contained in the pocket. A pin 64projecting from the bottom of the plunger through a hole in the bottomplate 54 of the turntable, rides up a stationary cam 65 positioned inthe circular path of the pin as indexed rotation of the turntable bringsits pocket into loading position and thereby raises the plunger to itstopmost position.

As the advancing turntable carries the pin 64 off the top of the cam andcomes to rest in the loading position, it sets the pin onto the end of aplunger 66 which at that moment is in its elevated position to which ithas been raised by an air cylinder 67. By controlled operation of theair cylinder, the plunger 66 is then retracted to allow the plunger 64to descend and thereby bring about the loading of the pocket withlaminations. An adjustable stop 68 limits the descent of the plunger 66and, in so doing, governs the number of laminations that enter thepocket.

Timing controls (not shown) initiate indexing of the turntable as soonas the predetermined number of laminations have been dropped into apocket, and as the turntable begins its indexing rotation and carriesthe just-loaded pocket away from the loading position, the topmostlamination in the stack therein is stripped or separated from thelaminations above it.

Before this invention, it was most difficult to strip or separate thedesired number of laminations from the column contained in the magazine.In the hope of achieving that objective, the discharge mouth of themagazine was spaced from the top of the turntable a distance less thanthe thickness of a lamination, but because of the inevitable variationsin thickness of the laminations, the height of a given stacked number oflaminations was not always the same. Time and again the topmostlamination in the stack would be partially in the pocket and partiallystill in the magazine and, when that happened, the initial indexingmotion of the turntable resulted in jamming the turntable indexingmechanism and causing serious damage to the machine.

The present invention completely eliminates that objectionableconsequence by its provision of the lamination feeder 62 and the mannerin which it is mounted. Extending vertically through the laminationfeeder is a bore 69 of a size to allow the stacked laminations leavingthe bottom of the magazine to freely descend to and drop from the bottomof the feeder. The feeder is pivotally mounted by a pin 70 that has itsends received in a pair of ears 71 depending from the table 61, and isyieldingly held by a spring 72 in a normal position defined by theengagement of a stop 73 with the underside of the table 61. In thatnormal position, the bore 69 through the feeder is coaxial with themagzine and the pocket 67 in lamination receiving position.

Note that the axis of the pivot pin 70 is transverse to the directionthe turntable carries the pockets, and that it is upstream of thatmovement with respect to the bore 69. Hence, as shown in FIG. 13,indexing motion of the turntable while a lamination is both in thepocket and in the bore 69, will simply cause the lamination feeder torock on its pivot against the thrust of the spring 72. As that occurs,the bottom of the lamination feeder swings upwardly away from the top ofthe indexing table allowing the "caught" lamination to free itself fromthe mouth of the feeder.

The structure just described is not limited to use with laminations ofany particular configuration -- even non-circular laminations can besuccessfully separated thereby -- but for the core of the armature shownin FIG. 1, wherein the winding slots have a re-entrant cross sectionalshape and the individual laminations accordingly have five T-shapedarms, it is advantageous to provide the bore 69 in the lamination feederwith a key 74 that is T-shaped in cross section, to engage the undersideof the heads of two adjacent T-shaped arms on all of the laminations inthe feeder.

As best seen in FIGS. 17 and 18, this T-shaped key may be integral withthe body of the feeder or secured in a groove formed in the wall of thebore 69. In any event, it is at that side of the bore that is nearestthe axis of the pivot 70 and hence is upstream with respect to themovement of the pocket 57 as the turntable is indexed. Accordingly, inthe event a lamination is trapped between the advancing pocket and themouth of the lamination feeder, the opposing forces act on closelyadjacent parts of the lamination, as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 19.This has the advantage of minimizing the possibility of the trappedlamination being bent before it is released from the mouth of thefeeder.

The provision of the T-shaped key also facilitates holding the effectiveclearance between the underside of the feeder and the top of theturntable to less than the thickness of a lamination, since it is onlythe clearance between the bottom end of the key and the top of theturntable that is critical.

The T-shaped key in the bore 69 of the lamination feeder aligns withconventional keys 75 and 76 respectively, in the magazine and thepockets 57 so that at all times the stacked laminations will be heldagainst relative rotary displacement.

With each index of the turntable, the pocket into which a stack oflaminations has just been loaded, is first presented to a stack heightchecking station, which has not been illustrated, being unnecessary foran understanding of the invention. The next index of the turntablecarries that pocket with the correct number of laminations in it, to ashaft inserting station indicated generally by the numeral 81 in FIG.11. Here an armature shaft 7 is taken from a shaft feeder SF (FIG. 11,sheet 5) and pressed into the stack of laminations. Since the mechanismby which this operation is performed is conventional, a detaileddescription of it is not needed. FIG. 21 (Sheet 8) illustrates theshaft-stack subassembly.

At a checking station (not shown) to which the assembled stack and shaftare brought by the next index of the turntable, that partial orsubassembly is checked to determine if, in fact, a shaft has beeninserted into the stack of laminations. If one has, the operation of themachine proceeds, but if no shaft is present, control mechanism (notshown) functions to stop the production line and actuate a signal thatindicates the source of the difficulty.

The next index of the turntable carries the assembled stack and shaft toa transfer station, generally identified in FIG. 11 by the numeral 81.Here this subassembly leaves the unit 50 of the assembling machine andis taken over by the unit 51.

The unit 51 also has a turntable, identified by the numeral 82, mountedfor indexed rotation about a vertical axis in 60° increments andequipped with six equispaced pockets 83 around its periphery (FIGS. 25,29, 31, 34). These pockets carry the progressing armature core assemblystep-by-step from the transfer station 81 to a loading station 84 (FIG.11) where the completed armature core assembly is inserted into one ofthe carriers 13. Since the size of the pockets 83 is determined by thediameter of the armature core, the pockets are preferably provided byappropriately bored inserts set into holes in the turntable 82.

Power to effect indexing rotation of the turntable 82 is taken from themain drive shaft 55 through gears 55' and a transmission unit 85 (FIG.9). This transmission unit not only produces the incremental rotation ofthe turntable 82 but it also imparts up and down motion to a pair ofsuperimposed horizontal non-rotatable discs 86 and 87, the function ofwhich will be described later.

The manner in which the transmission unit 85 effects incrementalrotation of the turntable 82 and vertical reciprocation of the discs 86and 87 forms no part of this invention, and hence has not beenillustrated. Suffice it to say that, through appropriate mechanism, thevertical reciprocation of the discs is coordinated with the indexedrotation of the turntable.

At the transfer station 81 and at the loading station 84 -- which arediametrically opposite one another with respect to the axis of theturntable -- and also at three other stations spaced around thecircumference of the turntable, there are transfer arms 88 with hands 89at the opposite ends thereof by which the parts to be handled by thetransfer arms are grasped.

Each transfer arm is mounted at its respective station on a spindle 90(FIG. 34) for rotation about a vertical axis, with its hands 89projecting downward and equispaced from the axis about which the armrotates. The lower ends of the spindles are slidably splined to the hubsof gears 91 which, in turn, are journalled in bearings 92 fixed to astationary base plate 93 that is secured to the housing of thetransmission unit 85. The upper ends of the spindles are journalled incombination thrust and radial bearings 94 that are mounted in the lowerdisc 87. Accordingly, the spindles and the transfer arms thereon areboth rotatable and axially movable - the latter motion being imparted tothe spindles by up and down motion of the disc 87.

To rotate the spindles, the gears 91 to which they are slidably splined,mesh with a large gear 95 that rotates in unison with the turntable 82as the latter is indexed by the transmission unit 85. The ratio of thegears 91 and 95 is such that with each 60° index of the turntable, thegears 91 -- and hence the transfer arms -- rotate 180° between positionsin which the transfer arms are radial to the axis of the turntable.

The five stations at which transfer arms are located are identified inFIG. 11 by the letters A, B, C, D and E. At a sixth station F, there isno transfer arm. These stations are spaced 60° apart.

Attention is directed to the fact that in FIG. 9, for the sake ofclarity, three of the five transfer arms and their associated parts havenot been shown. Only the transfer arms at the diametrically oppositestations B and E are shown.

At station A, the part being handled is the insulating shield 8' whichcovers the end of the stack of armature core laminations remote from thecommutator, and hereinafter referred to as the bottom end lamination. Atthis station the transfer arm takes a bottom end lamination from thedischarge station 96 of a conventional vibratory feeder 96a and placesit in a pocket 83 of the turntable 82. FIG. 25 illustrates this latteroperation.

At station B -- which is the transfer station 80 -- the stack-shaftsubassemblies are transferred from the turntable 53 to the turntable 82.FIG. 27 illustrates one such subassembly about to be lifted out of apocket 57 in the turntable 53, and shows a bottom end lamination in apocket 83 in the turntable 82.

At station C, the other insulating shield 8 -- hereinafter termed thetop end lamination -- is transferred from the discharge station 97 of aconventional vibratory feeder 97a to a pocket 83 of turntable 82 and, inso doing, impales that top end lamination onto the shaft of the armaturecore subassembly seated in the pocket. FIG. 29 illustrates thisoperation.

At station D, the transfer arm removes a commutator from the dischargestation 98 of a conventional vibratory feeder 98a and adds it to thearmature core subassembly in the adjacent pocket 83 of the turntable 82.FIG. 31 illustrates the commutator just placed on that subassembly.

At station E, one of the hands of the transfer arm at this station, upondescent of the transfer arms, grasps the shaft of the just-completedarmature core assembly and -- by its elevation -- that transfer armlifts the armature core assembly from the turntable 82. During the nextindex of the turntable 82 and the concomitant 180° rotation of thetransfer arm at station E, that armature core assembly is brought to atransfer position at which it aligns with a waiting carrier to be shoveddown into that carrier during the next descent of the transfer arms.

Nothing takes place at station F and there is no transfer arm at thisstation. This assures that the turntable pockets 82 will be empty whenthey reach station A.

Because of the differences in shape and size of the parts handled by thefive transfer arms, their hands are necessarily different. Thus, asshown in FIG. 25, the identical hands 89 of the transfer arm at stationA -- where the bottom end laminations are lifted from the source thereofand placed in the bottom of the pockets 83 in turntable 82 -- eachcomprises a stem 99 fixed to and projecting down from the transfer arm.On the lower end portion of this stem, which is reduced in diameter,there are three identical gripper fingers 100 seated in longitudinallyextending grooves 101. The upper ends of these fingers have bosses thatseat in sockets 102 formed by an increase in depth of the grooves and,at their lower ends, the gripper fingers have inwardly directed claws103 that underlie the bottom of the stem. An elastic band 104 encirclingthe stem and occupying an annular groove in the stem, yieldingly biasesthe fingers radially towards the axis of the stem and causes the clawsto snap under the edge of a bottom end lamination in position to bepicked up at station A as the transfer arm descends.

Return of the transfer arm to its elevated position and rotation thereofthrough 180° places the bottom end lamination directly above theadjacent empty turntable pocket 83 at station A.

As shown in FIG. 25, descent of the transfer arm then inserts thatbottom end lamination that had been picked up during the previous cycle,into the empty turntable pocket 83 at station A. With the bottom endlamination thus inserted into the pocket, it must be held there as thetransfer arm rises. This is done by a stripping pin 105. This pin isslidably received in a bore extending axially through the stem 99 and isheld against relative axial motion with respect to the stem by beingyieldingly held against a cap 106 that closes the hole in the transferarm in which the stem is secured. It is held in that position by aspring 107 confined between the bottom of a counterbore in the top ofthe stem and the underside of a flange 108 on the pin.

The upper end of the pin projects through a hole in the cap and providesa "push button" against which a downward holding force is applied to thepin, in a manner to be described, and hence to the bottom end laminationin the pocket, as the transfer arm rises.

At the transfer station B, where the stack-shaft subassembly shown inFIG. 21 is lifted from the turntable 53 and transferred to the turntable82, the hands of the transfer arm are as shown in FIG. 27. Here each ofthe hands comprises a tubular shell 109 seated in a counterbored hole inthe transfer arm, and a plunger 110 slidable in the shell and yieldinglymaintained by a spring 111 in a projected position defined byinterengaging abutments on the plunger and shell. A bore 112 with aslightly enlarged mouth at its bottom, extends axially through theplunger, and projecting down into the upper end of this bore is a pin113 that has a stepped diameter head 114 at its top. The smallerdiameter portion of this head projects slidably through a cap 115secured to the top of the arm and extending down into the counterboredhole to hold the shell 109 in place. The bottom of the cap thus forms afixed seat against which the spring 111 reacts in maintaining downwardpressure on the plunger 110.

A lighter spring 116 reacting between the top of the plunger and theunderside of the stepped diameter head 114, yieldingly holds the pin 113in a raised position in which its upper end portion provides a "pushbutton" by which the pin can be depressed for a purpose to be described.

In effecting transfer of a shaft-stack subassembly from the turntable 53to the turntable 82, the transfer arm lowers its hands towards theadjacent pockets in both turntables. As the hand which aligns with thepocket 57 in the turntable 53 descends, the armature shaft enters thebore 112 in the plunger 110 and the bottom of the plunger engages thetop of the stack of laminations in the pocket, causing the plunger torise against the force of the spring 111. A pin 117 projecting from thebottom of the plunger, projects into one of the slots in the stack oflaminations to maintain rotational alignment between the plunger and thestack.

Upon completion of the downstroke of the transfer arm, a clutchconsisting of three inwardly biased balls 118 that occupy radiallyextending holes 119 in the plunger 110, frictionally grips the armatureshaft with sufficient force to lift the stack-shaft subassembly out ofthe pocket 57 as the transfer arm rises. The holes 119 in which theballs are seated do not open fully into the bore 112, so that a lip isleft at the radially inner ends of the holes against which the balls areheld by an elastic band 120 received in an annular groove in theplunger, and to avoid requiring the annular groove to be so deep that itweakens the plunger, spacers 121 are interposed between the balls andthe elastic band. (FIGS. 28 & 28a)

Obviously, as the armature shaft is pushed into the grip of the balls,they leave the seats formed by the lips at the inner ends of the holes119.

The insertion of the shaft-stack subassembly into the pocket 83 afterthe transfer arm has swung 180° to bring that subassembly into line withthe pocket, is effected in the following manner. As the transfer armdescends, the bottom end of the armature shaft enters the socket in thebottom end lamination that had been placed in the pocket 83 at station Aby the preceding cycle, and the flanges of that end lamination enter theslots in the stack. With continued descent of the transfer arm, theplunger 110 bottoms on the stack and, by compression of the spring 111,the laminations are tightly pressed together and held down duringinitial elevation of the transfer arm. But before that elevation of thetransfer arm takes place, the "push button" 114 is forcefully depressedin a manner to be described and, by that forceful depression, the pin113 bearing against the top end of the armature shaft, drives the lattersolidly into the socket in the bottom end lamination.

The "push button" 114 is retained in its depressed condition as thetransfer arm begins its upstroke, with the result that the armatureshaft is stripped from the grasp of the three ball clutch, so that theshaft-stack subassembly with the bottom end lamination assembledthereto, as shown in FIG. 22, remains in the bottom of the pocket 83ready to receive the top end lamination which takes place at station C.

The hands of the transfer arm at station C are similar to those on thearm at station A, to the extent that they have three fingers 122 (FIGS.29, 30) that reach down and snap over the edge of a top end laminationin place at the discharge station 97 as the transfer arm descends, butin this case the grooves in which the fingers are seated are in aplunger 123 that is axially movably received in a shell 124 fixed to andprojecting down from the underside of the transfer arm. A pair ofelastic bands 125 yieldingly hold the fingers in their operativepositions.

Slidably received in a bore 126 in the plunger 123 is a stem 127 thathas an axial bore to receive the armature shaft. The plunger is springbiased downward to bear against the top end lamination as it is appliedto the shaft-stack subassembly. To strip the top end lamination from thespring fingers during ascent of the transfer arm, the "push button" atthe top of the stem 127 is restrained against upward movement as thetransfer arm begins its upstroke, to thereby maintain downward pressureon the top end lamination.

FIG. 29 illustrates the situation at the instant the top end laminationhas been pushed home to produce the subassembly shown in the lower partof FIG. 23. The upper part of this view shows the commutator which isadded to the assembly at station D.

With reference to FIG. 31, it will be seen that the hands of thetransfer arm at station D are again generally similar to those atstation B. Hence, they have three gripping fingers 130 seated inlongitudinal grooves formed in the cylindrical surface of a stem 131that is solidly fixed to and projects down from the transfer arm. Theclaws 133 on the lower ends of these fingers snap over the edge of thecommutator as it is picked off the delivery station 98 (FIG. 11) andhold it against the bottom of the stem 131. After the transfer arm hasbeen rotated to align its hand with the commutator in its grasp with thepocket 82 that contains the armature subassembly to which the commutatoris to be added, descent of the transfer arm impales the commutator ontothe shaft of that subassembly and drives the hub 133 of the commutatorinto a socket in the hub 134 of the top end lamination 8.

It is to be noted that the hub 133 and the socket in the hub 134 have apentagonal cross section, so oriented with respect to the windingreceiving slots in the stack of laminations and also the terminals ofthe commutators, as to assure correct alignment therebetween.

Attention is also directed to the fact that the boss on the underside ofthe commutator has one flat side surface 135 (FIG. 23) that is parallelwith one of the five sides of the hub 133. That flat side 135 coactswith a guide surface (not shown) forming part of the feeder 98a, tobring the commutators to and maintain them in a predetermined positionof rotation until they are picked up by the hands of the transfer arm atstation D. This enables the establishment and maintenance of apredetermined rotary orientation of the commutator terminal to which thestarting and ending leads of the armature winding are attached when thearmature core assembly reaches the winding machine. To facilitate theattachment of those leads, the terminal 10' to which they are attacheddiffers from the others, as shown in FIG. 33, and that terminal of everyarmature core assembly must be in exactly the same position of rotationwhen it is transferred to the winding machine.

Since it is also essential that the commutator be accurately positionedaxially with respect to the core, there is no yieldability in the forcewith which the commutator is pushed onto the armature shaft. Thus, it isthe bottom of the stem 131 itself which engages the top of thecommutator and, of course, since the stem is fixed to the transfer arm,the bottom surface of the stem is always moved to the same level bydescent of the transfer arm.

Detachment of the gripping fingers 130 from the edge of the commutatorin preparation for ascent of the transfer arm, is effected by depressingan upwardly biased pin 136 that is slidably positioned in an axial borein the stem 131 by means of a "push button" 137 at the top of the pin.During such depression of the pin, a conical surface 138 at its bottomend cams radially movable actuators 139 outwardly to spread the grippingfingers. With the fingers thus spread apart, the transfer arm can be --and is -- elevated and then rotated to bring the hand, which had justapplied a commutator to the core assembly, into position to pick upanother commutator and to align the other hand with the pocket 83containing the next armature core assembly to which a commutator is tobe applied.

By indexed rotation of the turntable 82, the now completed armature coreassembly as it appears in FIG. 24, is brought to the transfer station,identified by the numeral 84 and the letter E -- FIG. 11.

(to avoid possible misunderstanding resulting from a comparison of FIGS.25, 26, 29, 31 and 33, it should be explained that -- for ease ofillustration -- these Figures do not all show the turntables 53 and 82at the same side of the axis about which the transfer arm turns. Thus,in FIGS. 25, 29, 31 and 33, the turntable 82 is at the left of thataxis, whereas in FIG. 27 it is at the right.)

In FIG. 34, which illustrates the transfer mechanism at the transferstation 84-E, the transfer arm 88 has been lowered and one of its hands89, the one in alignment with the adjacent pocket 83, has the shaft inits grasp. The hands at this station are cylindrical stems bored toreceive the armature core shaft and provided with a socket at the bottomend to receive the commutator. As in the hands at station B (FIG. 27) athree ball clutch 118, 120, 121 grips the armature shaft. Although thegrip which this clutch has upon the armature shaft of the armature coreassembly might be strong enough to pull the armature core assembly outof the pocket 83 as the transfer arm rises in preparation for bringingthe assembly into alignment with the waiting carrier 13, to assure thatthis will take place, the armature core assembly is ejected from thepocket by a force applied thereto by an ejector pin 140. This pin islifted by a cam 141 (FIGS. 9 and 10) acting through a medially pivotedlever 142.

The ejector pin passes through a hole 143 in the adjacent gear 91 toengage and lift a push rod 144 slidable in a cap 145 secured to theunderside of the turntable 82 in line with the pocket 83 in which thearmature core assembly is seated. A spring 146 yieldingly holds the pushrod in its lowermost position.

It is of course to be understood that at the time the ejector pin 140 islifted, the gear 91 is stationary and will not rotate until the cam 141has retracted the ejector pin, and until the rising transfer arm haslifted the core assembly fully out of the pocket 83. Then rotation ofthe transfer arm through 180° brings that core assembly into position tobe inserted into a waiting carrier 13, as shown at the right in FIG. 34.

All of the pockets 83 in the turntable 82 are alike, since they allcarry the core assemblies as they are built up at the succeedingstations; and since they are preferably interchangeable, they all havepusher pin assembles 144, 145, 146 although it is only at station Ewhere those pins perform a function (FIG. 34).

As noted hereinbefore, the spindles 90 on which the transfer arms aremounted, have up and down axial motion imparted thereto by virtue oftheir connections with the lower one of the two superimposed discs 86and 87, and -- as will be readily understood -- it is that up and downmotion of the spindles and the transfer arms 88 that brings about thefunctioning of the hands 89 at the ends of the transfer arms.

During the major part of the up and down motion of the lower disc 87,the upper disc 86 moves in unison with it, but during the initialelevation of the lower disc, the upper one remains stationary. It isduring this relative motion between the two discs that a downward forceis applied for the purpose described, to the "push buttons" that projectupwardly at the ends of the transfer arms; and -- to make that possible-- the upper disc 86 has depresser fingers 150 depending therefrom atstations A through D. These fingers pass through holes in the lowerdisc.

At stations A through D, the depresser finger aligns with a pocket 83 inthe turntable 82, and in each instance the length of the depresserfinger is such that the range of relative motion between the upper andlower discs 86 and 87 produces the appropriate action at the differentstations during the initial portion of the ascent of the discs.

At station E, the depresser finger 150' aligns with the axis of thecarrier 13 in position to have an armature core assembly shoved downinto it. The insertion of that assembly into the carrier is broughtabout by descent of the hand that had lifted the assembly off of theturntable 82, for -- during that descent -- the bottom of the hand bearssolidly against the top of the commutator. Although there is somefrictional resistance to insertion of the core assembly into the cavityof the carrier, that resistance is not great enough to disturb theposition of the commutator with respect to the core as the descendinghand pushes the assembly into the carrier.

To enable the hand that inserted the assembly into the carrier to risewithout pulling the core assembly with it, the assembly must be helddown while the hand is lifted. This is accomplished by having the upperdisc 86 continue its descent after the lower disc reaches bottom and thecore assembly has been fully inserted into the carrier.

By virtue of that relative motion between the upper and lower discs, thedepresser finger 150' at station E, moving down with the upper disc towhich it is attached, engages the "push button" 151 projecting up fromthe arm 88.

The connection between the depresser finger 150' and the upper disc 86has a degree of lost motion, conveniently provided by the engagement ofa cross pin 152 fixed with respect to the upper disc and engaged in anelongated notch 153 in the depresser pin. By virtue of this lost motion,the depresser finger will remain in its lowered position holding thecore assembly in the carrier during initial ascent of the lower discand, of course, also the transfer arm. During that initial ascent, thethree ball clutch is lifted off the armature core shaft so that by thetime the upper disc begins to move up with the lower disc, the armaturecore is free of the grip the now rising hand had upon the core assembly.

PRESENTATION OF CARRIERS FOR THE RECEPTION OF ARMATURE CORE ASSEMBLIES

Attention is directed to the fact that, in all of the operationsinvolved in the assembly of the component parts of the armature coreassemblies, the axis of the assembly was vertical. Accordingly, thetransfer mechanism, about to be described, by which the armature coreassemblies are taken from the assembling machine and inserted intocarriers, must have provision for tipping the axis from vertical tohorizontal, since -- for the carriers to roll -- their axes must behorizontal.

With reference to FIG. 35 which illustrates the structure of theelevator 14 indicated in FIG. 1, but from the opposite side, two emptycarriers 13 are shown at the discharge end 160 of the return track 28ready to drop down into a vertical track 161 that forms part of theelevator 14. A gate 162 at the top of the track 161 controls entry ofthe empty carriers to the track 161. This gate is pivoted, as at 163, toa stationary part of the elevator and is actuated by an air cylinder,indicated at 164. This cylinder is operated in timed relation with theindexed rotation of the turntable 82 to admit the carriers, one at atime, to the track 161.

In addition to the descending track 161, the elevator 14 also has anascending track 165. One side of each of these tracks has one stretch ofan endless belt 166 riding therein and supported thereby. This belt istrained about vertically spaced pulleys 167, one of which is driven inthe direction to cause the stretch of the belt in track 161 to descend,and the other stretch to ascend. The belt runs continuously duringoperation of the machine.

In the other side of each track, there is a resiliently deformable strip168, and since the distance between the facing surfaces of the stretchof the belt and the undeformed strip is less than the diameter of themiddle flange 30 of the carriers, the resilient deformability of thestrips 168 causes the carriers in the tracks to be firmly held againstthe stretches of the endless belt. Hence the descending carriers intrack 161 and the ascending carriers in track 165 are at all times undercontrol as they roll along those tracks. The coaction between the beltand the resiliently deformable strips is illustrated in the lowerleft-hand portion of FIG. 35 and in FIG. 36.

Partway down track 161, the descending carriers encounter an orientationstation 169 beyond which they slide down a guideway 170 that leads totransfer mechanism 171 by which empty carriers are presented to thetransfer station 84-E of the assembling machine to have armature coreassemblies inserted therein.

The guideway 170 is defined by opposing straight parallel edges 172,173, provided by the flanges of U-shaped rails 174, 175.

As seen in FIG. 36a, the flanges of rail 174 are spaced apart a distanceto receive therebetween only the middle flange 30 of the carriers, butthe distance between the flanges of the rail 175 is sufficient toaccommodate the cylindrical portion of the carrier hubs between the flatintelligence-forming surfaces thereon. Hence, those flatintelligence-forming surfaces can have sliding engagement with the edges173. The distance between the edges 172 on rail 174 and the edges 173 onrail 175 is but slightly greater than the diametrical dimension of thecarrier hubs perpendicularly from the plane of their flatintelligence-forming surfaces to the opposite cylindrical surface of thehubs. It follows, therefore, that a carrier can enter the guideway onlyif it occupies a position of rotation at which its flatintelligence-forming surfaces are parallel with the edges 172 and 173.To effect that disposition of the carriers is the function of theorientation station 169. Here a pair of freely rotatable idler rolls 178and 179 coact with the downwardly moving stretch of the belt 166 toimpart rotation to the carriers.

The idler roll 178 is positioned to be engaged by the periphery of themiddle flange 30 of the descending carriers, and the idler roll 179 --which is a spool -- is positioned to have its flanges engage thecylindrical surfaces of the carrier hubs. Note that the periphery of theidler roll 179 is tangent to the straight edges 173 of the rail 175.Hence, any carrier that arrives at the orientation station 169 with itsintelligence forming flat surfaces 35 not aligned with the edges 173,will be detained and rotated until that alignment is achieved. Then thecarrier slides down the guideway 170 on its way to the transfermechanism.

To assure the maintenance of good driving engagement between thedescending stretch of the belt and the carrier, the idler roll 178 iscarried by a pivotally mounted arm 176 against which a spring 177 bearsto press the idler roll aginst the carrier.

After the carriers leave the orientation station and start sliding downthe guideway 170, contact between the descending stretch of the belt 166and the carriers is undesirable. Accordingly, that stretch of the beltis deflected from its straight line path by an idler roll 180.

At the bottom of the guideway 170, a gate 181, pivoted at 182, controlsfurther descent of the carriers and admits them, one at a time and atintervals timed with the cyclic functioning of the assembling machine,to the transfer mechanism 171, FIGS. 35 and 40. The transfer mechanismcomprises four nests 183 on a turret 184. The gate is cyclicallyoperated in any suitable manner -- as, for instance, by a link 185connecting it with the lower disc 87 that moves up and down with eachindex of the turntable 82.

The aforesaid four nests 183 are connected to the turret 185 byequispaced arms 186 that radiate from the turret. The turret is suitablymounted for indexed rotation about a vertical axis by structure that hasnot been shown, nor has the means for imparting indexed rotation to theturret -- beyond indicating the presence of a gear 187 at the base ofthe turret and with which a drive gear (not shown in FIG. 35) meshes.With each index of the turret, one of the nests 183 is brought intoposition to receive an empty carrier from the bottom end of the guideway170.

A transfer mechanism similar to that shown in FIG. 35 is employed at thewelding machine 23 where it is illustrated especially well in FIG. 40.The description of the transfer mechanism now being considered, willtherefore refer to FIG. 40 as well as FIG. 35. Thus referring to FIG.40, it will be seen that each nest 183 has a base 188 by which it isconnected to its respective arm of the turret for rotation about an axisradial to that of the turret. On this base is a yoke 189 which forms theactual nest and which embraces the carrier placed in the nest. One armof the yoke is a channel 190, the flanges of which are so spaced thatthe flat intelligence-forming surfaces 35 of the carriers are engageablewith the edges of the channel and thereby maintain the carriers inpredetermined rotary orientation. The risers 35' of the steps formed inthe hubs of the carriers at the inner edges of their flat surfaces 35,also engage the flanges of the channel 190, so that the engagement of acarrier with the channel also holds the carrier against axialdisplacement.

The other arm 191 of the yoke which holds the carrier against thechannel, is bifurcated. to straddle the middle flange 30 of the carrierand thereby coact with the channel 190 in stabilizing the carrier whilein the nest. The carrier is releasably held in the yoke by a pair ofconnected fingers 192 that are pivoted to the yoke at 193, and springbiased towards the edge of the flanges of the channel. Since thesefingers 192 wrap around the hubs of the carrier, they must be swung outaway from the channel to permit a carrier to enter and leave the nest.

Referring again primarily to FIG. 35, it will be seen that the nest 183that is positioned at the bottom of the guideway 170 has its retainingfingers 192 held in the "open" position by the engagement of a roller193 on one of the retaining fingers, with a stationary cam 194. Thatengagement took place during the preceding quarter turn of the turret.With the opening of the retaining fingers, the carrier drops from thebottom of the guideway into the open nest.

During the next quarter turn index of the turret, the nest containingthe empty carrier it had just received, is rotated 90° to tip the axisof the carrier from horizontal to vertical. The gearing by which thenest is thus rotated as a consequence of indexed rotation of theturntable, has not been illustrated, since it is conventional. Alsoduring that index of the turntable -- in fact, at the initiation thereof-- the roller 193 rode off the cam 194 and permitted the retainingfingers 192 to move to their closed holding position.

At the completion of that quarter turn index of the turret, the nestwith the empty carrier in it is at the transfer station E, as shown inFIG. 34, where an armature core assembly is shoved into the carrier.

The next index of the turret brings the nest, with the now loadedcarrier in it, to a discharge station above the mouth of a downwardlyinclined track 195 which leads to the bottom of the track 165 in theelevator 14. During that last index of the turret, the nest 183, withthe loaded carrier in it, was again rotated 90° to tip the axis of thecarrier from vertical to horizontal, so that as soon as the grippingfingers holding the carrier in the nest are actuated to release thecarrier, it can roll down the track 195. That release is effected bydepression of a spring-held plunger 196 positioned to push down onto theadjacent arm of the gripping finger. The plunger 196 is depressed by apin 196' concomitantly with actuation of the gate 181 by the descendingdisc 87. In the event a detecting instrumentality, such as aphotoelectric cell -- with which the conveyor system is equipped at allstrategic locations to control its operation -- signals the absence ofan armature core assembly in the carrier at the discharge station, anair cylinder 186' retracts the pin 196'. With that occurrence, the emptycarrier at the discharge station will not be released. Moreover, thedetection of this failure also results in the line being stopped.

With loaded carrier released from the nest it had occupied, the turretresumes its 90° indexing, and the sequence of loading the carriers goeson.

At the bottom of the inclined track 195, the middle flange 30 of theloaded carrier is gripped between the belt 166 and the resilientlydeformable strip in the ascending track 165 of the elevator, with theresult that the carrier is elevated to the top of the track 15 (FIG. 1).At the junction of the ascending elevator track 165 and track 15, therising carrier rides onto a pivoted kick finger 200 that is spring-heldin the path of the oncoming carrier. As the carrier advances, it rollsalong this finger and depresses it, and the instant the carrier reachesthe top of the pivoted kick finger, its spring snaps the finger back toits position of rest and the carrier begins its rolling advance alongthe downwardly inclined track 15.

At its lower end, the track 15 connects with the descending elevator 16,which is like the righthand side of the elevator 14 shown in FIG. 35,and hence has not been detailed in this disclosure. It might be well atthis point to explain that the track 15 in FIG. 1 need not be as high asit is shown and that, in fact, the tracks 15 and 17 could becontinuations of one another, thereby obviating the need for thedescending elevator 16. In practice, the situation is as shown in orderto provide a walk-through passage from one side of the line to theother. In any event, the loaded carriers roll down the track 17 to thefirst of the winding machines.

PRESENTATION OF THE LOADED CARRIERS TO THE WINDING MACHINES

FIGS. 37, 38 and 39 illustrate the manner in which carriers coming fromthe assembling machine and containing armature core assemblies, arepresented to the winding machines. In FIG. 37, the second and thirdwinding machines 18b and 18c are shown.

At the first of these two machines (18b) loaded carriers rolling downthe track 19 that comes from machine 18a are either admitted or sent onto the next winding machine by a switching gear SG, depending uponwhether or not machine 18b is busy winding an armature. If it is notbusy, an automatic gate 210 opens and allows the advancing carrier topass and enter a feed chute 211 that leads to a saddle 212. The saddleis movable with a horizontal translating motion between an outerreceiving position in which it forms a continuation of the track alongwhich the carrier had been rolling, and -- more specifically -- the feedchute 211, and an inner delivering position to be discussed later.

Before the carrier can drop down into the saddle, its flats locatingsurfaces 35 must be aligned with straight vertical guides 213 in thesaddle. To achieve that needed alignment, a power driven spool 214 (FIG.37a, sheet 10) which is located at the adjacent terminus of the bottomrail of track 17, imparts rotation to the carrier in position to dropdown into the saddle.

The flanges of the spool 214 are so spaced that they straddle the middleflange of the carriers while their peripheries have rolling engagementwith the circular inner portions of the carrier hubs. Since the upperrail of the feed chute 211 and the upper end of the straight verticalguides 213 in the saddle, coacting with the spool 214, preclude descentof the carrier into the saddle until the flat surfaces 35 on the carrieralign with the vertical guides 213, it follows that the carrier will bedetained until the rotation imparted thereto by the spool brings aboutthat alignment.

The instant the flat surfaces 35 on the carrier align with the guidesurfaces 213 in the saddle, the carrier drops into the saddle and onto asupporting finger 215 (shown in FIG. 37a, sheet 10) in the bottom of thesaddle. It is supported there by the finger 215 and held againstrotation by the guides 213 with its axis -- and hence the axis of thearmature core assembly therein -- coaxially aligned with one of twocollets 216 on the outer ends of a transfer arm 217. Accordingly, uponinward translation of the saddle to its delivering position, the shaftof the armature core assembly held by the carrier in the saddle, entersthat collet and is gripped thereby.

The saddle 212 is now retracted and, as it is, the carrier therein isstripped from the armature core assembly in the grasp of the collet.With the carrier thus withdrawn from the core assembly, the transfer arm217 is rotated 180° about a fixed horizonal axis equispaced from the twocollets. By that rotation of the transfer arm, the collet with the coreassembly that had just been removed from the carrier in its grasp, is solocated that it holds the core assembly at the winding station of thewinding machine. With the core assembly in that position, the windinghead 218 of the winding machine is moved to its operative position atwhich its shrouds 218' embrace the armature core and the flier 219 ofthe winding machine winds wire into the slots in the armature core.

The manner in which the flyer is driven and the winding head is movedtowards and from the armature core forms no part of this invention, andmoreover, is conventional. In FIG. 37, the winding machine 18b is shownwith its winding head in operative position, whereas in the machine 18a,the winding head is shown retracted.

As is well known, during the winding of the coils onto the armaturecore, the core must be indexed to successively bring different pairs ofcore slots into winding receiving position. That indexing is done byimparting indexing rotation to the collet 216 which has the coreassembly in its grasp. For this purpose, each of the two collets has agear 220 drivingly connected with it and located at the back side of thetransfer arm. As the transfer arm swings from one position to the other,the gear that is drivingly connected with the collet being brought intowinding position, meshes with a drive pinion 221 that is periodicallyrotated by conventional indexing mechanism 222 (FIG. 38).

Upon completion of the winding operation and withdrawal of the windinghead 218, the transfer arm is again rotated through 180° to bring thecollet with the just-wound armature in its grasp into coaxial alignmentwith an empty carrier in the saddle 212. Thereupon, the saddle isadvanced causing the carrier in the saddle to embrace and grip thejust-wound armature. With that operation completed, collet releasingmechanism 222 operates to release the grip the collet had on thearmature shaft, enabling the saddle to be retracted. This retractionbrings the carrier with the just-wound armature in it, back intoalignment with the feed chute 211 and the head end of the adjacentdischarge track 20 into which the carrier drops from the saddle inconsequence of the supporting arm 215 being swung to its open orinoperative position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 37a.

As best seen at the right hand portion of FIG. 37, a combination tracksection and elevator 223 is mounted for translatory up and down motionbeneath the retracted position of the saddle. When in its raisedposition, it serves as a track section to guide the carrier droppingfrom the bottom of the saddle into the track 20 that leads from thewinding machine at which the described winding operation took place.

Upon being brought to its lowered position shown at the left in FIG. 37,the combination track section and elevator 223 is below the path of acarrier rolling down the track section 20 that leads from the nextupstream winding machine. That carrier thus comes to rest against thebottom end 224 of the track section 20 directly above the member 223.Hence, upon elevation of the member 223, it serves as an elevator andlifts that carrier to the head end of the next downstream track section20.

The foregoing description of the manner in which the carriers arehandled at the winding machines proceeded upon the premise that themachine 18b was available. If that machine were not, but was insteadbusy winding an armature, the oncoming carrier rolling down the tracksection 19 leading to winding machine 18b -- after bypassing the firstmachine 18a -- would be arrested by the presence of a carrier (shown indotted lines) being held by the gate 210 at the entrance to the chute211 leading to winding machine 18b. After being detained in thisposition for a predetermined period, the switching gear SG at windingmachine 18b acts to direct the detained carrier to the next windingmachine. For this purpose, the switching gear has an elevator 225 abovewhich the detained carrier came to rest. As that elevator rises, itlifts the detained carrier to the head end of the track 19 leading tothe winding machine 18c. In this manner, machine 18b would be bypassed.

The switching gears SG also actuate the gates 210 to release thecarriers held thereby at the appropriate time.

In FIG. 37, the elevator 225 of the switching gear at the entrance towinding machine 18b is shown in its lowered position, and in its raisedposition in the switching gear at the entrance to the winding machine18c.

As will be readily appreciated, the way in which the carriers arehandled as they are presented to and discharged from the several windingmachines, is the same at each machine. An advancing carrier with anarmature core assembly in it, will always be accepted by the firstencountered winding machine that is not already winding coils onto anarmature core, and the carriers with wound armatures in them will rolldown the successive track sections 20 to the elevator 21.

The first winding machine 18a, of course, has no track section 20leading to it.

The mechanism at each of the winding machines by which the describedfunctions are performed, is illustrated in FIG. 39. The mechanism has amain drive shaft 230 that is drivingly connected with a motor (notshown) to provide a source of power and motion for all of the operatingelements of the mechanism, except the transfer arm 217. It isperiodically rotated 180° by a motor driven shaft 231 drivinglyconnected through a right-angle gear transmission 232 with the shaft 233on which the transfer arm is mounted.

The carrier rotating spool 214 is continually driven by a drive chain234 connecting a sprocket on the main drive shaft with a sprocket pinionon a shaft 235 that has the spool mounted on it.

The specific structure by which the saddle 212 is mounted for itshorizontal translatory motion is not illustrated, but that motion isimparted to the saddle by reciprocating a shaft 236 which is fixed tothe saddle and slidably mounted in stationary bearings (not shown). Atits inner end, the shaft 236 has an arm 237 fixed thereto, and this armis connected through a link 238 with one arm of a bell crank 239 mountedon a shaft 240 to rock about a fixed axis. The other arm of the bellcrank 239 is connected through a link 241 with one arm of a bell crank242. This bell crank is journalled on a shaft 243 suitably mounted infixed parallel relationship with the drive shaft 231 and, on its otherarm, has a cam follower 244 that rides on a cam 245 fixed to the driveshaft. The cam 245, acting through the described linkage, impartsreciprocation to the shaft 236 and thereby effects the in and outtranslatory motion of the saddle required to effect transfer of thearmature core assemblies to and from the winding station.

Another cam 246 fixed to the drive shaft, acts through a second bellcrank 247 journalled on shaft 243 to impart oscillation to a secondshaft 248 that moves with the saddle and is both slidably and rotatablymounted in stationary bearings (not shown). This shaft has thesupporting finger 215 fixed thereto so that oscillation imparted to theshaft rocks the supporting finger from one to the other of itspositions. The cam produced oscillation of the shaft 248 is achieved byhaving the arm of the bell crank 247 that is remote from its camfollower 249, pivotally connected to a rack 250 that is suitably guidedfor reciprocation and meshing engagement with elongated pinion teeth 251on the shaft 248.

The cam 246 also rocks the gate 210 in proper timed relation. For thispurpose, the shaft 254 to which the gate is fixed, has an arm 255projecting therefrom and connected by a long link 256 with one arm of athird bell crank 257 which, however, is not pivoted on the shaft 243.Nevertheless, this third bell crank swings about a fixed axis and,through a link 257' is connected with the cam following arm of the bellcrank 247.

A fourth cam 258 fixed to the drive shaft 230, effects release of thecollet that has in its grasp the armature shaft of a just-wound armaturethat has been brought into position to be inserted into an empty carrierin the saddle. The cam 258 acts through a cam follower 259 at the bottomend of a vertically reciprocable rod 260 that has its upper endconnected to toggle linkage 261. This toggle linkage is operativelyconnected to the collet by which the just-wound armature is held inposition to be transferred to a waiting empty carrier by inward motionof the saddle.

Since each 180° rotation of the transfer arm moves an armature coreassembly that has been brought to the winding machine by inward motionof the saddle, into winding receiving position and, at the same time,carries a just-wound armature from the winding position to the transferposition in line with the empty carrier in the waiting saddle, itfollows that the operative connection between the collet and the togglelinkage 261 must be separable, yet capable of transmitting the neededmotion.

PRESENTATION OF WOUND ARMATURES TO THE WELDING MACHINE

The carriers leaving the bank of winding machines with wound armaturesin them, roll down the last of the four track sections 20 to theelevator 21. This elevator, in structure and function, is like theascending half of the elevator 14 previously described and shown in FIG.35. Hence its details have not been illustrated, suffice it to say that,by this elevator 21, the carriers with wound armatures in them arebrought to the head end of track 22. Like that of the track 15, theelevation of track 22 is high enough to provide a walk-through spacefrom one side to the other of the line. The carriers on it roll down toa descending elevator 270 that can be considered a part of the weldingmachine 23, and down which they travel, as explained in connection withthe feeding of empty carriers to the transfer mechanism 171 in FIG. 35.

The transfer mechanism 171 at the welding machine -- like the one at thetransfer station E of the assembling machine -- comprises a turret 184with four radiating arms 186 that have carrier receiving nests 183mounted on their outer ends for rotation about axes radial to those ofthe turret. Since the manner in which this transfer mechanism 171functions has already been described in connection with the transferstation E of the assembling machine, no need is seen for devotingfurther description to it in its association with the welding machine,except to note that in this environment it is wound armatures that arepresented to the turret and not empty carriers, and that the woundarmatures are lifted from their carriers at the transfer station TS(FIG. 40) of the turret where the axis of the carriers and the armaturein it is vertical.

Upon being lifted from the carrier at the transfer station TS, thearmature is transferred -- in a manner to be described -- to a weldingstation at which the lead wires of the armature windings are fused tothe terminals of their commutators. That armature is then brought backto the transfer station and inserted into a vacated carrier at thetransfer station TS. The following index of the turret brings thatcarrier with a welded armature in it to a delivery station DS shown atthe far left in FIG. 40. Here an air cylinder 271 opens the nestoccupied by this carrier which then drops onto the track 24 (FIG. 2) androlls towards the test and eject station TE. It should be noted that theair cylinder 271 acts only when a turret nest containing a carrier ispresented to the delivery station DS.

The armatures are lifted from the nests upon their arrival at thetransfer station TS by one of two collets 272 (FIG. 42) depending from atransfer arm 273 that is mounted for rotation, in 180° increments, abouta fixed vertical axis and for up and down motion. In each position ofthe transfer arm 273, one of its collets is coaxial with the axis of anarmature in the carrier occupying the nest 183 at the transfer stationTS, and its other collet is coaxially aligned with a cylindrical socketin one of two receptacles 274 on the ends of a second transfer arm 275.The transfer arm 275 also rotates in 180° increments about a fixedvertical axis.

The axes about which the transfer arms 273 and 275 and the turret 184turn lie in a common plane which also contains the transfer arms whenthe latter occupy their positions of rest. At that time, the receptacle274 that is not aligned with a collet 272 of the transfer arm 273, isdirectly beneath and coaxial with a welding tool diagrammaticallyindicated at 276 in FIG. 42. Thus, upon descent of the welding tool 276,an armature seated in the socket of the receptacle beneath it will haveall of its coil leads simultaneously fused to their respectivecommutator terminals. As can be appreciated, this fusing operationrequires a specific rotary orientation of the armature with respect tothe welding tool. That orientation is assured by this invention in themanner already described.

Since the specifics of the manner in which armatures are presented tothe welding station and armatures that have had their coil leads weldedto the commutator terminals are returned to the transfer station, formsno part of this invention -- except that, during the entire transferringoperation, the predetermined rotary orientation of the armatures withrespect to the flat surfaces 35 on the carriers is maintained -- no needexists for a detailed description thereof.

The manner in which indexing rotation is imparted to the turret and thetwo transfer arms will now be briefly described. With reference to FIG.47 it will be observed that the gear 187 on the base of the turretmeshes with a gear 277 that is fixed to a shaft 278 journalled in theframe of the machine for rotation about a vertical axis. Below the base279 of the machine frame, through which the shaft extends, the shaft hastwo superimposed pulleys 280 and 281 keyed thereto, and below thesepulleys there is an arm 282 freely rotatably mounted on the shaft 278.

The upper pulley 280 is drivingly connected with a pulley 283 that isfixed with respect to the transfer arm 275, through a timing belt 284;and the lower pulley 281 is drivingly connected, through a timing belt285, with a pulley 286 that is fixed with respect to the transfer arm273. It will be seen, therefore, that with each index of the turret,both transfer arms are also indexed. Through appropriately selected gearratios, the transfer arms are indexed 180° while the turret index isonly 90°.

A cam, indicated at 287 in FIG. 42, is the source of the indexingrotation imparted to the turret and the transfer arms. This cam swings arocker arm 288, which is suitably biased to maintain its cam follower inengagement with the cam, back and forth about a pivot at its lower end.The upper end of this rocker arm is connected through a pitman 289 witha pin 290 that is slidably mounted in the outer end of the arm 282. Itwill be recalled that this arm is freely rotatable about the shaft 278.Hence, unless this arm is non-rotatably connected with the shaft 278,cam produced motion of the pitman 289 cannot impart rotation to theshaft or the pulleys keyed thereto.

To effect the needed connection, the pin 290 is projected upwardly intoa hole in the lower pulley 281. That is done by another cam, indicatedat 291 in FIG. 42, acting through a medially pivoted lever 292 and aconnecting rod 293 that has its ends connected with the lever 292 at thepin 291 by universal joints. The cams 287 and 291 are so shaped thatjust before the forward stroke of the pitman (to the right in FIG. 42)the pin 290 is projected into the hole in pulley 281. The forward strokeof the pitman thus turns the shaft 278 and the pulleys keyed thereto,and the angle of that rotation is just sufficient to impart the 90°index to the turret and the 180° index to the transfer arms.

At the completion of that indexing motion, other cams act to projectshot bolts into holes in the just rotated members or parts connectedtherewith, to hold the same against drifting from their indexedpositions, so that proper alignment will be assured between the colletson the transfer arm 273 and the axes of the carrier in the turret andthe receptacle of the other transfer arm. The manner in which this isdone is not important and no doubt can be understood from FIGS. 41 and42.

After the cam-produced indexing of the turret and the transfer arms hasbeen completed, the pin 290 is withdrawn from the hole in the pulley 281and then the rocker arm 288 retracts the pitman 289 to return the arm282 to its original position.

Since the function of the welding tool 276 must be timed to the indexingof the turret and the transfer arms, the linkage by which the shot boltsare actuated controls electric switches 295 and 296 which, in turn,control the welding tool. Accordingly, the current to the welding toolwill not be turned on until the shot bolts are home and will be turnedoff when the shot bolts are retracted.

The opening and closing of the collets 272 on the ends of the transferarm 273, as well as the elevation and descent of the transfer arm 273,is effected by mechanism shown in FIGS. 41 and 42. Again, a descriptionof those details is not needed for an understanding of the invention.

FIG. 41 also shows the disposition of a carrier with a welded armaturein it, poised above the start of track 24. Upon actuation of the aircylinder 271, that carrier drops down onto the track 24 to rolltherealong to the test and eject station TE.

At the entrance to station TE (FIG. 43), the carrier containing acompleted armature encounters feed control mechanism which is the sameas that by which carriers with unwound armature cores in them arepresented to the winding machines -- FIGS. 37, 37a and 39. Thus acarrier approaching station TE is first detained by gate 210, then --upon "opening" of that gate -- it rolls into the feed chute 211 to bedetained at the exit thereof while the spool 214 rotates the carrier toalign its flat locating surfaces 35 with the flat guide surfaces 213 inthe saddle 212. The carrier then drops down into the saddle.

With the carrier seated in the saddle, the saddle is moved sidewise inthe manner and by the mechanism described in connection with FIG. 39, toengage the commutator terminals of the armature in the carrier with theprobes 300 (merely indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 43) of theelectrical testing instrumentalities at the station TE. These testinginstrumentalities form no part of the invention and hence are notillustrated. The important feature of this part of the system is that,since all parts of the carriers are electrically non-conductive, thearmatures need not be removed from the carriers to be electricallychecked for possible shorts or other electrical defects.

If the check reveals no defects, the saddle brings the carrier back intoalignment with the track of the feed chute 211 and with the dischargetrack 25 and then, upon opening of the trap door, provided by finger215, the carrier drops down onto the track 25 to roll to an unloadingstation 301 (FIG. 44).

Armatures that fail to meet the tests to which they are subjected atstation TE, are ejected from the carriers they occupied by a suitableejection device which includes an air cylinder 302 (FIG. 43) that isactivated by control instrumentalities governed by an appropriate sensor(not shown) and pops the bad armatures from the carriers before thosecarriers are released from the saddle. Any suitable means may beemployed to carry the ejected armatures away.

At the unloading station 301, a turret 303 with four pockets 304 isindexed to bring its pockets successively into alignment with the end ofthe discharge track 25 for acceptance of loaded carriers therefrom, andto bring those pockets to an unloading position UP where mechanism (notshown) pops the armatures out of the carriers and onto the deliveryconveyor 26. With the next index of the turret 303, the now emptycarrier leaves the pocket 304 it had occupied and rolls down a track 305to the elevator 27. This elevator, like the ascending half of theelevator 14 (FIG. 35) comprises the upwardly traveling stretch of avertically orientated endless belt 166 and a resiliently deformablestrip 168 in parallel spaced relation to that stretch of the belt. Asdescribed hereinbefore, the carriers are gripped between the belt andthe deformable strip and are thus rolled up the track defined by thestrip and the ascending stretch of the belt. Upon reaching the top ofthe elevator 27, the carriers enter the downwardly inclined return track28 along which they roll back to the start of the line. It should benoted that FIG. 44 illustrates the elevator 27 and return track 28 fromthe side of the line opposite that shown in FIG. 2.

MODIFIED CARRIER INTELLIGENCE

FIGS. 45, 46 and 47 more or less diagrammatically show three ways inwhich the carriers 13 can be held against rotation without providingthem with the flat locating surfaces 35.

In FIG. 45, the carrier is provided with an iron insert 310 in thecylindrical surface of its hubs, to coact with permanent magnets 311positioned where predetermined rotary orientation of the carrier and itscontents is to be maintained.

In FIG. 46, the carrier is provided with a light reflecting area 312spaced radially from its axis of rotation, to be impinged by a lightbeam from a photosensitive cell 313. Upon such impingement, holdingmeans -- here shown as a pair of jaws 314 -- is activated in response toclosure of an electric circuit (not shown) governed by the cell 313, togrip the carrier axially therebetween.

FIG. 47 shows the rotation interrupting means in the form of a hole 315opening to the cylindrical surface of a hub of the carrier into which apin 316 enters to prevent rotation of the carrier. The pin can bemounted to travel with the carrier as it moves towards the work stationat which predetermined rotary orientation of the article in the carrieris required.

It is realized that these three ways of equipping the carriers withintelligence and arresting their rotation may not be as practical asproviding the carriers with the flat surfaces 35, but they illustratealternatives, and hence warrant claiming this feature broadly.

From the foregoing description, taken with the accompanying drawings, itwill be evident that this invention makes possible the assembly andproduction of multipart articles, and especially armatures for electricmotors, at very high production rates and with a very low percentage ofrejects. It will also be apparent to those skilled in the art that, inpractice, the total system would be equipped with sophisticated controlinstrumentalities including photocell-type sensors placed at strategiclocations to stop the line whenever a failure occurs at any portionthereof, and to identify the location of the failure. But theseaccoutrements -- essential as they may be to commercial practice of theinvention -- actually form no part of the invention and hence have notbeen shown or described. Their omission, however, does not detract fromthe completeness of the disclosure or its support of the appendedclaims.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the invention can beembodied in forms other than as herein disclosed for purposes ofillustration.

The invention is defined by the following claims.

I claim:
 1. In apparatus for presenting articles which consist ofassemblies of a number of components including a shaft upon which theother components are mounted, to a work station at which power actuatedmechanism performs an operation upon the articles, the performance ofwhich requires that the articles be presented to said mechanism inpredetermined orientation with respect thereto, said apparatus includinga plurality of identical carriers each having a cavity to receive one ofsaid articles, and a circular periphery on which the carrier rolls withits axis horizontal down an inclined track to the work station, theimprovement comprising:A. rotation interrupting means on each carrierspaced from its axis of rotation and by which the carrier can be held ina predetermined position of rotation; B. locating means on each carrierto engage said articles upon insertion thereof into its cavity and toestablish the same in predetermined orientation with respect to therotation interrupting means on the carrier; C. holding means at the workstation cooperable with said rotation interrupting means on the carriersto hold the carriers in a position of rotation in which the articlestherein are in said predetermined orientation with respect to the poweractuated mechanism at the work station; D. an automatic assemblingmachine having instrumentalities to receive the individual components ofsaid assembly and in progressive stages assemble the same into saidarticles with the shafts thereof vertical; E. transfer means operable togrip and present the carriers one at a time and with their axes ofrotation vertical, to a receiving station adjacent to said assemblingmachine; F. means to remove said assembled articles from the assemblingmachine and insert them into the carriers as the latter are presented tosaid receiving station; and G. transfer means to grip the thus loadedcarriers and deposit them on said track with their axes horizontal. 2.The invention defined by claim 1, further characterized by:orientingmeans incorporated in said assembling machine to establish apredetermined orientation between the components of said assemblies asthey are assembled;and means operable as the articles consisting of saidassemblies are removed from the assembling machine and inserted into thecavity of the carrier to establish said predetermined orientation ofsaid articles with respect to the rotation interrupting means on thecarriers.
 3. The invention defined by claim 1, wherein said assembliesare unwound armatures and one of the component parts thereof is a stackof laminations, and wherein said assembling machine includes:1. amagazine to hold a supply of laminations, having an outlet at itsbottom;
 2. a rotatably indexable table below said magazine havingcircumferentially spaced pockets that are successively brought to alamination receiving station in line with the magazine as the table isindexed;
 3. a lamination feeder between the bottom of the magazine andthe top of the rotatably indexable table, said lamination feeder havinga bore to receive laminations from the bottom of the magazine andconduct them into the pockets in the table; and
 4. means mounting saidlamination feeder for movement between a normal position in which thebottom of the feeder is spaced from the top of the table a distance sorelated to the thickness of the laminations that under normal conditionsthe topmost lamination in the stack thereof contained in a pocket inregistry with the magazine will be clear of the bottom of the laminationfeeder at the time the table is indexed, and a relieving position inwhich the distance between the bottom of the lamination feeder and thetop of the table is sufficiently greater than it is when the feeder isin its normal position to allow a topmost lamination that has not leftthe lamination feeder by the time indexing motion of the table is begun,to disengage itself from the feeder and thus not interfere with indexingmotion of the table.
 4. The invention defined by claim 3, furthercharacterized by:resiliently yieldable means to hold said laminationfeeder in its normal position.
 5. The invention defined by claim 3,wherein said laminations have reentrant recesses opening to theirperipheral edge, and further characterized by a key in the bore of thelamination feeder at the side thereof which is upstream with respect tothe direction in which the table is indexed,said key having asubstantially T-shaped cross section to engage one of the reentrantrecesses in each of the laminations that are in the bore of thelamination feeder,whereby said laminations are aligned and thebottommost lamination in the bore of the lamination feeder is heldagainst edgewise displacement therefrom during indexing motion of thetable until that lamination is fully disengaged from the key.
 6. Theinvention defined by claim 2, wherein said assemblies are unwoundarmature core assemblies comprising a stack of laminations with coilreceiving slots therein and a commutator with a circle of lead receivingterminals, mounted on a common shaft,wherein one of the commutatorterminals differs from the others, wherein said assembling machine hasan indexable turntable with pockets in which said unwound armature coreassemblies are assembled and by which they are carried to said receivingstation (recited in claim 1) with the commutator terminal that isdifferent from the others at all times in the same location, and whereinsaid means to establish said predetermined orientation of the articlesconsisting of said assemblies with respect to the rotation interruptingmeans on the carriers as the articles are removed from the assemblingmachine and inserted into the cavity of the carriers, places saiddifferent commutator terminal of every unwound armature core assembly inthe same predetermined location with respect to the rotationinterrupting means on the carriers.
 7. The method of making armaturesfor electric motors which comprises:A. providing a plurality ofidentical cylindrical carriers each of which has an axial cavity, acoaxial cylindrical peripheral surface on which the carrier can roll,and intelligence on the exterior of the carrier by which the rotaryorientation of an unwound armature core assembly and/or wound armaturein the cavity can be identified, and by which the carrier can be heldagainst rotation; B. assembling stacks of laminations and commutatorswith a circle of terminals thereon onto shafts to form armature coreassemblies; C. inserting each armature core assembly into the axialcavity of a carrier in predetermined rotary orientation with respect tothe intelligence on the carrier; D. placing the thus loaded carrier withits axis horizontal on a downwardly inclined track and allowing it toroll towards a winding machine; E. by means of the intelligence on thecarrier and cooperating means at the winding machine, holding thecarrier in a position of rotation at which a predetermined rotaryorientation between the armature core assembly in the carrier and thewinding machine is established; and F. while maintaning said rotaryorientation, transferring the armature core assembly from the carrier tothe winding machine.
 8. The method of claim 7 further characterizedby:effecting said transfer of the armature core assembly to the windingmachine by1. bodily advancing the carrier with the armature coreassembly therein axially towards the winding machine while holding thecarrier against rotation about its axis,
 2. by gripping means in thewinding machine grasping the armature core assembly, and
 3. retractingthe carrier to strip the same from the armature core assembly.
 9. Themethod of claim 8 further characterized by:A. advancing an empty carrieraxially towards the winding machine and effecting insertion of ajust-wound armature into the empty carrier with the armature bearing thesame rotary orientation with respect to the intelligence on that carrieras the armature core assembly had with respect to the intelligence onthe carrier from which it was stripped preparatory to being transferredto the winding machine; and B. returning said carrier with thejust-wound armature therein to the track and allowing it to roll towardsa welding machine at which the coil leads are fused to the commutatorterminals.
 10. The method of claim 9 further characterized by:A.transferring said carrier with the just-wound armature therein from thetrack to a loading station at the welding machine, and during suchtransfer swinging the carrier laterally to bring its axis fromhorizontal to vertical; B. at said loading station, removing thejust-wound armature from the carrier and depositing it with its axisvertical into the welding machine; C. by means of the welding machine,fusing all of the coil leads to their respective commutator terminals;D. transferring an armature that has had its leads fused to thecommutator terminals, from the welding machine to an empty carrier withthe armature in said same predetermined rotary orientation with respectto the intelligence on the carrier; and E. transferring the thus loadedcarrier to the track and, during such transfer, reorientating the axisof the carrier to horizontal so that it may roll along the track to atesting machine.
 11. The method of claim 10 further characterized by:A.transferring the carrier with its wound and fused armature therein fromthe track to the testing machine and, in effecting said transfer,utilizing the intelligence on the carrier to assure that the commutatorterminals of the armature are in predetermined orientation as requiredby the testing machine; B. without removing the armature from thecarrier, testing its electrical continuity; and C. returning the carrierwith an acceptable armature therein to the track to roll therealong toanother station.